Din's Adventures With the Fellowship of the Ring
by kiwiskreationz
Summary: An appendage of "Gold Burns Red" and "Into the Abyss". This will be a collection of snippets of Din's time with the Fellowship. I will be including some in "Into the Abyss" when they are relevant, but any others that come to me will end up here. Rated T for possible violence. Disclaimer: All rights belong to Tolkien and affiliated parties involved in the movies an novels.
1. Chapter 1

Hello readers! This first chapter will be a written out version of what I briefly explained happened to Arthenon in the first chapter of "Into the Abyss". WARNING! This will contain **spoilers** for any who have not read my "Hobbit" story, "Gold Burns Red". Only look behind the curtain if you have done so or unless you do not mind spoilers. :) Proceed.

 _TA April 3019, The Wold_

 _While on the hunt for Pippin and Merry_

Someone shook Din awake and she jolted to grab her attacker's hand, expecting to find an orc ready to slit her throat. Instead she looked up into a pair of calming blue eyes. Aragon did not try to wrest his wrist from her grip, but held up his other hand to quell her anxiety. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She could still hear Gimli snoring and did not want to wake him yet. The poor dwarf, sturdy as he might be, was struggling even more than she was to find the energy for their endless marathon.

"Dreams again?" Aragorn asked quietly. Din looked around to glare at Legolas upon the rock on which he perched. He held up his hands innocently, but he was the only member of the Fellowship, aside from Pippin, whom she had confided in about the nightmares that plagued her on restless nights. The ranger chuckled. "It does not take elven intuition to deduce why someone constantly stirs in their sleep."

"Oh . . ." Din murmured. Aragon reached into his pack and broke off a piece of Lembas bread and tossed it to her.

"Eat quickly." A grumpy Gimli was awakened and fed as well. As soon as the sun was high enough for those without elvish eyesight, they embarked once again to hunt the pack of orcs that had stolen Pippin and Merry. By midday the sun was bearing down on them with the wrath of a vengeful king and Din felt she might wilt like the yellowed grass crunching beneath her boots. Her silent complaints and insults toward the sun were cut short by the outcries of a dying orc. She jumped and the four of them stopped to look around for the source. Legolas made a beeline westwardly for a lonely rock formation. Their small company sprinted around its large circumference until they found two elves.

"You did not need to slay the creature so loudly." A feminine elf glared crossly at her companion. Her hair was such a pure shade of black that it barely reflected the sunlight and her tall slender form was clad in battle-ready armor. The elf glaring back at her was equally equipped, his mouse brown hair in disarray from his scuffle with the dead orc at his feet. Din felt her breath catch at the familiar sight of him. Arthenon had found her in King Thranduil's keep while the dwarves had been held prisoner. He had tried to kill her for the stone and failed. Later after witnessing the bond that the Silmaril had formed with her, he had abandoned his quest to reclaim it, or so she had thought. The female elf glowered at the lot of them as they trotted over until her dark blue eyes settled on Din and narrowed. Her comment on killing the orc "loudly" only made sense if they were attempting to be stealthy. Were they following Din? Had other Noldor finally sensed the stone, or had Arthenon told them?

"Who are you?" Arthenon asked curtly. He held Din's gaze pointedly and then glanced sidelong at his accomplice. She was in fact seeking the Silmaril, though if he was warning Din then he must have been working at some sort of an angle.

Aragorn stepped forward to address them eagerly. "Have you seen other orcs in the area? We are hunting a pack that has stolen two of our friends."

"That's a tough lot you've been dealt, friend," said Arthenon. "I am sorry, but this is the only beast I have come by for several days. Din heard Gimli let out a growl.

"Let's be on with it, then," he grumbled. Aragon nodded his agreement and turned away from the elves with a farewell in their native tongue. Din found Legolas standing behind her with a protective stance. Only when she had passed did he follow his company. He kept a watchful eye on her for the rest of the afternoon, but once evening was beginning to fall, he seemed to focused with their trek to pay too much attention to her. As they marched down a rocky hill, Din quieted her steps and broke away. When she was certain none of them had noticed, she back-tracked to face the Noldor. She caught a flash of movement in the distance and knew she had not been wrong. A clearing was formed by a cluster of boulders protruding from the earth and Din hid behind one.

How would she know whether or not they were advancing on her? How close should she allow them to get before she attacked? There was no way to know how many there were, especially with the sun sinking low, until they were upon her and she did not want them to find her cornering herself as she was now. She twisted to bolt out of her hiding spot as a gust of wind whipped her hair in front of her face. It was not normal wind, she knew. She had been discovered. Sure enough, a hand clamped down over her mouth from behind and a knife was pressed into her neck. Before she could blast her captor with fire, a familiar silky voice whispered through her hair.

"Calm yourself, Din. Do not yet allow them to see the power the stone grants you. I will see you out of this safely, but you must wait for them to all get close or they could scatter. There are three others." Din nodded her understanding and Arthenon uncovered her mouth but kept the knife at her neck as a cover. He walked her out from behind the rock formation and called out something in elvish. Three elves appeared in a similar cyclone fashion as Arthenon and the dwarf's hair was whisked around into a proper mess. The elven maid with black hair bore down on her, her dark eyes the color of an ocean at war with the sky during a storm.

"Where is it?" She spat? It was difficult to believe anyone could look at another living being with such deep-found hate. "We know you have the stone. You may hand it over or we will take it." Din stared unblinking into the depths of the ocean within the elf's eyes. She pulled the Silmaril from her pocket and allowed it to glow freely. The elf's eyes widened and became greedily fixed upon it. Foolishly, she reached out and clasped the stone in her long slender fingers without a second thought. A blood curdling scream erupted from her lips and she backpedalled, dropping the gem. It rolled down the hill as the elf cradled her hand.

Arthenon shoved Din to the ground roughly as if to punish her but in fact pushed her toward the stone. The dwarf could not pull air into her lungs as she rolled over rocks in the grass, knowing one of the Noldor was on giving chase. Even while her world spun, Din caught a glimpse of the Silmaril glowing in the yellowed grass, growing closer. As soon as she rolled over it, she scooped it up and broke her fall by throwing her leg and other arm out. There was no time to hesitate. She turned in the direction the elf would be coming from and engulfed him in a blast of white fire. His screams would likely haunt her sleep, even knowing he was about to slay her. A merciful arrow pierced through his head and ended his suffering.

The elf maiden's face was contorted into unquenchable rage and she lowered her bow to level her glare on Din, her lips pulling back in an angry sneer. Pocketing the stone, Din picked herself up and withdrew the short swords from her back in time to deflect an arrow from striking her face. She bolted behind one of the rock formations and wove back around so she would be closer to where the elf stood. Instead of simply bolting back into the open, she clambered up the rocks. Down below, the elf had her bow poised to fire at the other end where Din would have emerged from the ground. Only when Din leapt for the elf did she spot her and change direction. The dwarf deflected the arrow again and the dark curtain of the elf's hair shimmered as she moved back before Din could land on her. She withdrew a blade from her waist to match Din in combat. Though the small lass was quick, the elf was quicker and used a potent gust of wind to knock Din flat on her back. Din was ready to release another plume of fire as the elf lunged to plunge her sword into her gut when an arrow pierced the elf's head.

The body fell backward and Din swung her head around to find Arthenon lowering his bow. The other Noldor elf lay dead at his feet. "Come," he instructed as he discarded his bow to the ground. He anxiously opened and closed his hands as she pushed to her feet and sprinted over.

"I'm sorry if they were your friends . . ." She mumbled.

The corner of his mouth pulled up. "No, that's not the problem. You need to burn me."

"What? Why on earth would I do that?"

"To maintain my cover," he insisted.

"Din!"

Aragon, Gimli, and Legolas had returned for her. Ever mistrustful of the elf he had once known, Legolas drew his bow and leveled an arrow on Arthenon. "Keep away from her!" He barked.

"Wait!" Din used herself to shield Arthenon and watched as her companion's brows scrunched in confusion as they trotted over.

"What happened here?" Aragorn asked.

"He helped me," she explained.

Legolas was not satisfied by her answer and turned to Arthenon. "Explain." Arthenon glowered, but complied.

"I have been keeping an eye on the Noldor ever since I abandoned my quest to reclaim the Silmarils. They caught a whiff of the stone when Din passed through Lorien and have been hunting her, so I came to make certain they could not complete their quest."

A thought struck Din. "You wanted to get our attention earlier. You allowed the orc to make a lot of noise on purpose to draw us in so I would know."

He nodded. "I had to find the orc and bring it back here, but yes. Leradel was not happy that I gave our position away." He glared over at the dead elf.

An eager spark shone in Aragon's blue eyes. "Where did you find it?"

"I'm afraid I did not find the pack you are looking for. The orc was alone and injured. More than likely it ran from its group so as not to be slain for a source of food."

Gimli made a disgusted noise. "Vile beasts."

"I found it to the south some distance away." He pointed in the direction they had been going, which helped them only in the sense that it confirmed they had indeed been going the correct way. "Now, Din." She met his eye for only a moment before looking to the ground. "I know what I ask is not easy for you, but if I do not return they will know I betrayed them and if I return unscathed, it will be no different." Din pinched her eyes closed. He was right. She knew he was, but it didn't stop her stomach from chewing itself into a tight ball.

"Alright," she said through clenched teeth.

"Inflict as much damage as you can without killing me." He gestured to the left side of his chest. Din took a deep breath that did nothing to calm her nerves. She thrust her fist forward as if to strike him and a pillar of flame shot forth.


	2. Chapter 2

_TA January 3019, Moria "The Black Chasm", The Misty Mountains_

Ten pairs of footsteps echoed around the cavernous main hall of Khazad-dûm. What use the Dwarves of Moria had for such a gargantuan room, Din could not fathom, but it certainly sparked an awe-inspired nostalgia. And sadness. Grief for the countless Dwarves who had been lost attempting to reclaim this place ever since Moria had been lost to Durin's Bane back in TA 1980 of the Third Age. She and Gimli had come to Rivendell in hopes that they would find news of the Company of Balin, whom they had not received word from in quite some time. The dark, empty halls were not a good sign.

"Where is everyone?" She muttered to Gimli. Even speaking quietly, her words echoed further around the haunting halls than she liked. The light from Gandalf's staff cast eerie silhouettes and shadows of the other members of the Fellowship in flashing movements on the floors and pillars. Somehow she was reminded of being inside the Mirkwood forest those many years ago and shuddered at the memory of the birds that sounded like human screams when they screeched. But here it was fearfully quiet. Dwarven halls are never silent. She was so distracted that she bumped into Gimli, but he did not complain as he normally did. She looked around to see what had him so captivated and found an open door not thirty feet away, dim moonlight peeking through.

The dwarf made a strange noise and bolted forward. "Gimli!" Gandalf called after him. Din hurried after her friend. Her breath caught when she bolted into the room. She felt a whimper bubble from her throat at the sight of the skeletal remains of Balin's company, scattered around a lonely tomb at the center of the spacious room. Gimli collapsed in front of it. Hearing the heartbroken sobs of such a sturdy dwarf broke her resolve and she allowed herself to cry, but as silently as possible as not to intrude on his grief for his kin. There was only one dwarf whom they would have taken the time to place in a tomb.

"'Here lies Balin, son of Hundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then . . . It is as I feared." Gandalf removed his hat. Din was only vaguely aware of the others gathered around, if only because she was embarrassed that they could undoubtedly hear her sniffles. Large hands gripped her shoulders to comfort her and though she did not look up at Aragorn, she did not shake him off either. Only when Gandalf stooped at the skeleton slumped against the tomb did she realize the fallen dwarf carried a large journal. Her breath caught.

"I-is that Ori?" She asked tearfully. Ori had always been a bit of a documentarian. He had kept a journal through their journey to Erebor and when Balin and his troop had departed for Moria, Balin had tasked him with documenting the journey. Putting a face to the corpse brought painful grief and she started to sob. She turned away and Aragorn pulled her into a comforting embrace. She heard Gandalf pick up the large journal and the scraping of the parchment as he flipped through it.

"Here is the last passage. 'We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the bridge and second hall. Frar and Loni and Nali fell there… Five days ago… The pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Oin. We cannot get out. The end comes… drums, drums in the deep. They are coming.'" In a place like this the only logical explanation was orcs or goblins. But how many? A loud clattering startled a little yip out of her and even made Aragorn jump. Everyone turned to the back of the room where Pippin had accidentally knocked the head off of a skeleton and it now clattered down a well. Perhaps it may have ended there, but the rest of the remains began to follow and the poor little fellow was not fast enough to catch it. He turned sheepishly to Gandalf who slammed the journal closed.

"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" He turned in a huff from the hobbit until the deep sound of a drum echoed faintly up from the well. Din's blood ran cold. Her heart rate picked up and almost drowned out the growing sound of drums. An unearthly wailing began to grow louder in the cavernous hall outside and Frodo withdrew Sting from its sheath to reveal an ethereal blue glow emanating from the steel.

"Oh no!" Sam exclaimed.

"Orcs!" Legolas declared as the screeching neared. Boromir spun and ran to look out the door to see how close they were and a pair of arrows nearly impaled his skull.

"Get back! Stay close to Gandalf!" Aragorn instructed the hobbits. All four clustered behind the wizard on the other side of the tomb while Aragorn and Boromir braced the doors shut.

"They have a cave troll," Boromir explained with annoyed disbelief at their luck. Legolas and Din tossed dwarven weapons from the ground to them to brace the door. He and Aragorn then assumed positions with Gimli, Din and, Legolas at the tomb and they waited.

"Din!" Gandalf called over to her. He apparently had the same thought she did. As of now, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Frodo were the only members of the Fellowship who knew about her magic. At the start of their journey, Gandalf had heeded Din to keep it secret for as long as possible so that word could not spread-Boromir seemed intent on finding any advantageous weapon for his people in this war and he might send a letter home to his father. But the moment had come where she could no longer afford to leave it dormant. Revenge for her fallen people was also a strong motivation.

The dwarf lass closed her eyes and took a deep breath, allowing magic to flow through her veins for the first time in many moons. She could hear the wood of the door splintering as orcs began to break it down. The moment it burst open she opened her eyes and thrust her hand forward, releasing a searing plume of fire with a wrathful wail. The doorway funneled the creatures perfectly and the cries of many dying orcs filled the room. But for all its glory, the flames obscured any vision of the orcs and Din did not realize an arrow was flying toward her until it pierced her left shoulder. She screamed and fell back against Balin's tomb. Gimli leapt off the sarcophagus and landed in front of her to guard her as orcs flooded the room.

The arrow in her shoulder was of dwarf-make, with a steel shaft that had kept it from burning in the flames. There was no time to wallow in pain. With her friends now interwoven in the chaos, she could not risk letting off more fire and with the arrow still in her shoulder, she could not use her blade at full strength. She instead set her blade burning hot to easily rend the monsters' heads from their miserable bodies. It seemed they were gaining the upper hand until the cave troll Boromir had mentioned burst into the room and went on a rampage. Unlike the trolls she had encountered in the past, this one seemed incapable of speaking, probably rendered mute by years of abuse inflicted by the orcs.

It flailed its massive club around the room, smashing stone support beams and hitting orcs in its attempt to kill members of the Fellowship. Sam barely scuttled between its legs in time before the boulder sized club crashed into the ground with a loud _crack!_ An orc was caught in the crossfire as it swung the weight of it's weapon around and Boromir dove out of its wide path. Everything in the room scattered to get away from the creature, but the chaos gave Legolas the perfect opportunity to pick off half a dozen orcs. Din pulled a small hatchet from her belt and waited until the metal burned white before throwing it at the bumbling beast. The troll moved at the right moment and the axe sank into it's meaty shoulder rather than its head. The creature cried out, spinning around to find the source of the pain. But the idiot troll spotted Frodo with his glowing sword as the little fellow scurried behind a stone pillar and must have mistaken the hobbit as his attacker. It charged over and began peeking around the pillar to find him.

"Cover me!" She shouted to Boromir and Gimli. Scanning the deceased orcs around her, Din scooped up an orcish bow while the pair guarded her from the what few orcs still beared down on them. With her seething anger filling her with adrenaline, she ripped the steel arrow from her shoulder. She screamed through clenched teeth at the pain but the troll had found Frodo. There was no time to let the pain subside. She set the arrow against the drawstring and drew it back, despite the pain that ripped through her shoulder. The arrow took less heat to get it burning than other weapons. She actually had to be careful not to melt it. She was a much poorer shot than Legolas or Aragorn, so it took longer than she expected to line up the shot. The troll moved to impale Frodo and she released, praying her arrow would find its mark. It pierced it's thick skull. The troll stumbled forward but must have kept enough sense to jab its spear into Frodo's gut as it died.

" _No!_ " She cried. With the battle now clear, she and the others ran to Frodo's aid. Aragorn reached him first but the hobbit was already pushing himself up to a seated position. He gripped his abdomen where there was a very noticeable _lack_ of blood.

"Did it miss?" She asked breathlessly.

"No," Aragorn said in disbelief. "That spear would have skewered a wild boar."

Gandalf chuckled. "I think there's more to this hobbit than meets the eye."

Frodo sheepishly unbuttoned the first few of his tunic and revealed a shimmering shirt of mithril underneath. The shirt Thorin had given to Bilbo before the battle at Erebor. A shirt Gandalf claimed held more value than that of the entire Shire.

Their reprieve from battle was cut short when the screeches of more orcs echoed outside. The Fellowship banded together around the Ring-Bearer and waited. A second wave of orcs streamed into the room and Aragorn and Legolas executed the front line with arrows. Din readied a blast of fire when a large thud stopped ever orc in their tracks. The room fell silent. After a second thud, the grotesque monsters began to flee from the room. Din looked confusedly at to Aragorn at her side but he looked just as confused. Gandalf, however, looked pale. She met his eye and understood what was coming. If any of them had a chance here, it was her.

"Din, no!" Gandalf cried after her. She ignored him, sprinting from the room. She withdrew her Silmaril to light her way as she stepped into the black cavern. The backs of orcs could faintly be seen disappearing as they fled. The Fellowship filed out of the room behind her but the dwarf looked around wildly for any sign of flame and finding none. She could hear something stirring in the deep, however. Something _big_.

"What is this creature?" Legolas inquired.

"A balrog. . ." said Gandalf. "A demon of the ancient world."

"The rest of you should leave. Escort Frodo to Mordor," Din said.

"Even if you had use of both arms, which you do not at the moment, this thing would be beyond you! We _all_ need to leave," Gandalf warned. Finally, a burning red light beamed through several of the fifty foot pillars. How big was this abomination? Impossibly loud growls filled the air. Her fists clenched, her resolve waning. "Run!" The wizard shouted. Someone pulled Din by her good arm and she followed her allies. Gandalf led them through the halls and though they met some resistance from the orcs, few had returned to slay them as most had been smart enough to stay away until the Balrog lay once again dormant.

Luckily the hobbits did not fall behind as the company flew as fast as they could until finally, they reached the bridge of Khazad-dûm with the demon hot on their tails. One by one they filed across the narrow bridge. Din clambered breathlessly up the stone stairway that led out of Moria after the others until a familiar pulse in the air stopped her. That was magic. Gandalf had stopped back on the bridge with the monster looming down on him, a calamity of fire and brimstone. In the rear, there was no one to stop Din when she leapt back down the stairs. The old wizard looked over his shoulder at her approach.

"No!" He yelled. He shot an invisible force back at her and she rolled back across the bridge, but because it was so narrow she ended up toppling over the side and barely managed to grab hold. The wrenching motion sent agony through her shoulder and the black chasm down below waited to swallow her should her grip fail. "You shall not pass!" She heard Gandalf shout. A spell pulsed through the bridge just as the twenty-foot balrog stepped onto it. Either due to Gandalf's spell or the sheer strain of its weight, the bridge began to crumble and the rumbling began to loosen Din's grip. Legolas took hold of her wrists and started to heave her back up as the balrog's fiery whip wrapped around Gandalf's ankle and yanked him from his feet. The old man was barely visible hanging off the end of the shattered bridge. Once back on her feet, Din ran to help him, but was not fast enough.

"Fly, you fools!" Gandalf let go, disappearing from sight. Din's heart stopped. Frodo cried out from somewhere up above. She was not even aware of the orcs on the other side who had reappeared and were once again attempting to shoot them. Din moved to go after Gandalf, but Legolas grabbed her around the middle to stop her.

"Let go of me!" She demanded. The elf did not release her and instead hauled her up the stairs after the others. The orcs could not pursue them with the bridge out and they encountered no more as they fled through the halls. Harsh sunlight met them back on the surface and the company halted to regain themselves. Around her, the hobbits all sank to the ground in open sobs.

A hand touched her shoulder and she glared lividly up at the elf through her tears. "Why did you stop me?! I could have gone after him! I did almost exactly the same thing with Smaug!"

"You are _not_ invincible!" Legolas shouted. The anger in his face startled her. Never had she seen him so enraged. "I know you've developed a bad habit of leaping off of things, but there is no telling how far down that chasm goes! It's not enough to lose Gandalf, you want us to lose you, as well?"

Din's face contorted in an attempt not to cry as her anger faded but it was no use. She collapsed shakily to her hands and knees, her tears splattering to the rocks. How could this have happened? Gandalf had always seemed unstoppable, an unyielding force of good that would _always_ be there. The old man did not even seem to age! He had been through countless battles and had seen her personally out of half a dozen seemingly inescapable situations. How could he fall here, when their quest had barely begun? Why had he kept her at bay? Why had he faced that calamity alone? Legolas knelt at her side and placed a hand on her back in consolation for her lost friend.


End file.
